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Greetings from California
Legends, Landmarks & Lore
of the Golden State
Greetings from California is a handsome, hardback coffee-table book that is a very entertaining miscellany of, as the sub-title says, the legends, the landmarks and the lore of the Golden State.
Greetings from California
Its 160 pages contain 130 color and 100 black and white photos, most of the large color photos being from the talented author’s own library of images that have graced the pages of National Geographic, and many other prestigious places.
The other photos are fascinating archive and historic photos which, along with old postcards and some sketches, help illustrate the many curious and enjoyable stories that the author has unearthed.
Greetings from California: The Author
Gary Crabbe is a California photographer and writer, who lives near San Francisco and who also took the photos for Backroads of the California Coast. Check out his website to see just how good he is. He’s worked for the National Geographic Society, Time, the New York Times, and the Carnegie Museum of Natural History amongst others.
Bixby Bridge on the Pacific Coast Highway
The Pacific Coast Highway
The book covers the whole of California, naturally, but the Pacific Coast Highway is well-represented as it was along America’s western shore that many important historical events took place.
The book is divided into 7 geographical sections, and the coast appears in 4 of them - Northern California, Southern California, the Bay Area, and the Central Coast. The other three regions covered are the Central Valley, Sierra Nevada, and the Desert.
Each region then carries anything from 4 to 19 topics, in spreads of 1-3 pages each. But behind these mundane facts and figures, to give you an idea what you’re getting for your money, is the story of California’s incredibly diverse history, ranging from the Los Angeles Water Wars and Migrant Workers, the First Transcontinental Railroad and the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, through the Monterey Jazz Festival, and Hollywood to Silicon Valley.
From Surfing to Death Valley, from Wildlife Refuges to Alcatraz, it’s a fascinating collection of California stories, beautifully illustrated with those images old and new.
Some of the author’s full-page color shots of places like the stunning Point Reyes just north of San Francisco, the Channel Islands National Park, and Death Valley National Park, are exceptional. Well, you don’t get your work in National Geographic by being run-of-the-mill.
Alcatraz
The Birdman of Alcatraz
To focus on one example of the way the book works, there is an entertaining spread on Alcatraz. It’s enjoyable for its potted history and its period photos, but the author reveals something we never knew.
The inmate Robert Stroud, who was known as the Birdman of Alcatraz, never kept any pets of any kind in his 17 years in Alcatraz. It was forbidden. He was actually the Birdman of Leavenworth, which doesn’t sound half as good. He kept birds when he was at Leavenworth, and his nickname followed him to Alcatraz.
Not Comprehensive
The book isn’t comprehensive. There’s not a mention of Hearst Castle, for example, which surely belongs in the legends, landmarks and lore of California. But that’s not a criticism. The author’s done well to pack as much as he has into 160 pages, which are ideal for dipping into and coming out with nuggets.
Buying Greetings from California
Greetings from California by Gary Crabbe is published by the Voyageur Press. It's available on Amazon USA
and Amazon UK.
Other books pages
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Lonely Planet's Guide to Cycling the USA West Coast is a bicycling guidebook for anyone touring California, Oregon and Washington by bike.
The Michelin Guide to California is a gourmet's guide to the best restaurants along the Pacific Coast Highway and elsewhere in California.
The Napa and Sonoma Guidebook to California Wine Country is from the Moon Handbooks’ travel guide series with reviews of wineries,vineyards, and wine tastings.
Books About the Pacific Coast Highway in California, Oregon and Washington including travel guidebooks, route guides, restaurant guides, and many more.
Vintage Hollywood in Los Angeles is an extract from the Lonely Planets book Culture Trails.
Pacific Coast Highway Travel's book review of Insider's Guide to San Francisco guidebook by Jill Loeffler, publisher of the San Francisco Tourism Tips website.
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The Best Coast is a west coast travel guide, sub-titled A Road Trip Atlas it doesn't use photos but instead has hundreds of beautiful illustrations.
This John Steinbeck California Guide, A Journey into Steinbeck's California, shows readers how towns like Monterey, Carmel and Salinas influenced the author.
The Green Guide to the USA West from Michelin covers California, the Pacific North West, the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, New Mexico, and even Kansas and Alaska.
Lighthouses of the Pacific Coast, published by Voyageur Press, is a guide in words and pictures to historic lighthouses along the Pacific Coast Highway.
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Review of the Pacific Coast Highway Road Trips book from Lonely Planet, which includes a California Driving Guide, by the Pacific Coast Highway Travel website.
Pacific Coast Highway Travel reviews the book Culture Trails by Lonely Planet, which has a section on Vintage Hollywood alongside 51 other perfect weekends.
Northwest Wine Country is a food and wine lover's guide to vineyards, fine dining, accommodation, restaurants in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, British Columbia.
Pacific Coast Highway Travel reviews the Pacific Coast Highway Road Trip Guide book covering the drive from Vancouver to San Diego.
To John Steinbeck Monterey's Cannery Row was a place of sardine canneries, bums and honky tonks, but today the Monterey Aquarium attracts visitors.
The Santa Barbara Guidebook from Moon Handbooks also covers California’s Central Coast with Ventura, San Luis Obispo, wine country, and Hearst Castle.
The Los Angeles travel guide book from Lonely Planet also covers San Diego and Southern California, including Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, and Disneyland.
West Coast Road Eats is a road food guide covering the Pacific Coast from California through Oregon to Washington, giving the best road trip food stops.
Pacific Coast Highway Travel reviews the Pacific Coast Highway Road Trip guide from Moon covering California, Oregon and Washington
Lonely Planet's Coastal California guidebook is the ideal travel guide for driving or cycling the Pacific Coast Highway from the Oregon border to Mexico.
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